Using metal detectors, IDF soldiers searching for remains of October 7 terrorist attack victims
For over a month, the number 260 stood as one of the most chilling figures of the war as it represented the number of people who were killed in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova music festival in southern Israel. Additionally, forty festivalgoers were taken hostage to Gaza.
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However, National Insurance Institute data reveals that after a month and a half of intensive forensic identification efforts, as many of the victims were shot and set on fire by terrorists in their cars as they tried to flee, the actual number of victims in the massacre at the festival was significantly higher.
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Cars of festivalgoers lined together, many showing fire damage
(Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen)
According to data, at least 340 civilians, mostly young men and women, were killed by Hamas terrorists in the massacre near Kibbutz Re'im, accounting for nearly half of all civilians killed on October 7 and one-third of all of those killed during the onslaught in Israel.
In addition to the civilian casualties, at least ten police officers who were securing the event, as well as soldiers who were present at the desert rave, were also killed.
The final death toll might exceed 350, as the identification process of all the victims is ongoing, and there are still a few missing individuals whose bodies have not been identified yet.